DUBAI -- A spreading oil slick from a sunken barge off the United Arab Emirates has forced the Persian Gulf state to close two desalination plants that provide vital drinking water, local newspapers reported on Tuesday. Fuel oil that escaped from the 11,000-ton-capacity barge after it sank in high winds on Wednesday had prompted the Emirates of Sharjah and Ajman to each close a desalination plant to prevent oil seeping into the local water supply.

"Sharjah Electricity and Water authority announced tonight that it was stopping all water desalination units at the Al-Liyya Water and Power Generating Plant," the official UAE news agency WAM reported late Monday. Al-Liyya provides roughly half of the Emirate's daily water consumption of 40 million gallons, newspapers said. Sharjah, with a population of around 500,000, is one of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE, a major OPEC oil producer.

Residents in parts of the Emirate said their domestic water supplies had been cut off. The spill from the barge now threatens more than 80 km (50 miles), running from Dubai to the northern coastal tip of the UAE at Ras al Khaimah Emirate. (Reuter)